Retribution and Reparation in the Transition to Democracy

Retribution and Reparation in the Transition to Democracy PDF Author: Jon Elster
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107320534
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 323

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Book Description
The contributions in this volume offer a comprehensive analysis of transitional justice from 1945 to the present. They focus on retribution against the leaders and agents of the autocratic regime preceding the democratic transition, and on reparation to its victims. Part I contains general theoretical discussions of retribution and reparation. The essays in Part II survey transitional justice in the wake of World War II, covering Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, and Norway. In Part III, the contributors discuss more recent transitions in Argentina, Chile, Eastern Europe, the former German Democratic Republic, and South Africa, including a chapter on the reparation of injustice in some of these transitions. The editor provides a general introduction, brief introductions to each part, and a conclusion that looks beyond regime transitions to broader issues of rectifying historical injustice.

Retribution and Reparation in the Transition to Democracy

Retribution and Reparation in the Transition to Democracy PDF Author: Jon Elster
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107320534
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 323

Get Book Here

Book Description
The contributions in this volume offer a comprehensive analysis of transitional justice from 1945 to the present. They focus on retribution against the leaders and agents of the autocratic regime preceding the democratic transition, and on reparation to its victims. Part I contains general theoretical discussions of retribution and reparation. The essays in Part II survey transitional justice in the wake of World War II, covering Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, and Norway. In Part III, the contributors discuss more recent transitions in Argentina, Chile, Eastern Europe, the former German Democratic Republic, and South Africa, including a chapter on the reparation of injustice in some of these transitions. The editor provides a general introduction, brief introductions to each part, and a conclusion that looks beyond regime transitions to broader issues of rectifying historical injustice.

Democratic Transitions

Democratic Transitions PDF Author: Sergio Bitar
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 142141760X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 487

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Book Description
Thirteen former presidents and prime ministers discuss how they helped their countries end authoritarian rule and achieve democracy. National leaders who played key roles in transitions to democratic governance reveal how these were accomplished in Brazil, Chile, Ghana, Indonesia, Mexico, the Philippines, Poland, South Africa, and Spain. Commissioned by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), these interviews shed fascinating light on how repressive regimes were ended and democracy took hold. In probing conversations with Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Patricio Aylwin, Ricardo Lagos, John Kufuor, Jerry Rawlings, B. J. Habibie, Ernesto Zedillo, Fidel V. Ramos, Aleksander Kwaśniewski, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, F. W. de Klerk, Thabo Mbeki, and Felipe González, editors Sergio Bitar and Abraham F. Lowenthal focused on each leader’s principal challenges and goals as well as their strategies to end authoritarian rule and construct democratic governance. Context-setting introductions by country experts highlight each nation’s unique experience as well as recurrent challenges all transitions faced. A chapter by Georgina Waylen analyzes the role of women leaders, often underestimated. A foreword by Tunisia’s former president, Mohamed Moncef Marzouki, underlines the book’s relevance in North Africa, West Asia, and beyond. The editors’ conclusion distills lessons about how democratic transitions have been and can be carried out in a changing world, emphasizing the importance of political leadership. This unique book should be valuable for political leaders, civil society activists, journalists, scholars, and all who want to support democratic transitions.

Closing the Books

Closing the Books PDF Author: Jon Elster
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521548540
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
An analysis of transitional justice - retribution and reparation after a change of political regime - from Athens in the fifth century BC to the present. Part I, 'The Universe of Transitional Justice', describes more than thirty transitions, some of them in considerable detail, others more succinctly. Part II, 'The Analytics of Transitional Justice', proposes a framework for explaining the variations among the cases - why after some transitions wrongdoers from the previous regime are punished severely and in other cases mildly or not at all, and victims sometimes compensated generously and sometimes poorly or not at all. After surveying a broad range of justifications and excuses for wrongdoings and criteria for selecting and indemnifying victims, the 2004 book concludes with a discussion of three general explanatory factors: economic and political constraints, the retributive emotions, and the play of party politics.

Truth, Reparations and Social Cohesion

Truth, Reparations and Social Cohesion PDF Author: Elisabeth Bunselmeyer
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000045110
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 179

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Book Description
This book addresses the effectiveness of transitional justice mechanisms for repairing social cohesion. Truth commissions and reparation programs are implemented worldwide to enhance social cohesion, peace and democracy in post-conflict settings. Most claims about transitional justice measures are, however, normatively and not empirically based.The book questions whether attention from a truth and reconciliation commission can truly change the lives of the violence-affected people and whether monetary compensations or communal projects in form of milk cows can ever truly "repair" the harm suffered. The within-country comparative case study analyzes the effects of the commission and reparation program in Peru. It studies the post-conflict situation and the development of social cohesion in communities affected by the internal armed conflict. Using detailed empirical data this analysis reveals why the "reparation" of social cohesion in Peru was an impossible task. Contributing to a broader understanding of the impact of nationally applied transitional justice instruments in local settings, the book further offers a new framework for analyzing social cohesion as one of the aims of transitional justice processes. Offering a detailed account of transitional justice processes and social cohesion on the micro level, as well as an important analysis of their relationship, this innovative monograph will be invaluable for transitional justice scholars and students, as well as for international political and societal actors who are involved in transitional justice measures.

Reparations and War

Reparations and War PDF Author: Luke Moffett
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192865587
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
War devastates the lives of those who are caught up in it. For thousands of years, reparations have been used to secure the end of war and alleviate its deleterious consequences. More recently, human rights law has established that victims have a right to reparations. Yet, in the face of conflicts that last for decades with millions of victims, how feasible are reparations? And what are the obstacles to delivering them? Using interviews with hundreds of victims, ex-combatants, government officials, and civil society actors from six post-conflict countries, Reparations and War examines the history, theoretical justifications, and practical challenges of implementing reparations after war. It examines the role of non-state armed groups in making reparations, the role of victim mobilisation, the evolving use of reparations, and the political instrumentalization of redress. Luke Moffett offers a measured and honest account of what reparations can and cannot do. This book sheds new light on how reparations can be politically manipulated, or used to reward those loyal to the State, rather than to achieve justice for the victims who suffer.

The Politics of Acknowledgement

The Politics of Acknowledgement PDF Author: Joanna R. Quinn
Publisher: UBC Press
ISBN: 0774859598
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
Human rights violations leave deep scars on people, societies, and nations. Since the early 1990s, international rights groups have argued that resolving the violence of the past through instruments of transitional justice such as truth commissions is a necessary condition for a peaceful future. But how can nations ensure that these tribunals are the best path to reconciliation? The Politics of Acknowledgement develops a theoretical framework of acknowledgement with which to evaluate truth commissions. Rather than applying this framework to successful tribunals, Joanna Quinn uses it to analyze the difficulties encountered and the ultimate failure of two poorly understood truth commissions in Uganda and Haiti. The failure of these commissions reveals that if reconciliation is to be achieved, acknowledgement of past violence and harm – by both victims and perpetrators – must come before goals such as forgiveness, social trust, civic engagement, and social cohesion.

Transitional Justice in Established Democracies

Transitional Justice in Established Democracies PDF Author: S. Winter
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137316195
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
Truth commissions, apologies, and reparations are just some of the transitional justice mechanisms embraced by established democracies. This groundbreaking exploration of political theory explains how these forms of state redress repair the damage state wrongdoing inflicts upon political legitimacy.

The Transformation of Property Regimes and Transitional Justice in Central Eastern Europe

The Transformation of Property Regimes and Transitional Justice in Central Eastern Europe PDF Author: Liviu Damşa
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 331948530X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 325

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Book Description
This volume examines the property transformations in post-communist Central Eastern Europe (CEE) and focuses on the role of restitution and privatisation in such transformations. It argues that the theorisation of ‘restitution’ in post-communist CEE is incomplete in the transitional justice scholarship and in the literature on correction of historical wrongs. The book also argues that, for a more complete theorisation of (post-communist) restitution, the transformations of property in post-communist societies ought to be studied in a more holistic way. The main legal vehicles used for such transformations, privatisation and restitution, should not be studied separately and in abstract, but in their reciprocal relationship, and in connection to the dimension of justice which each could achieve. Finally, the book integrates ‘privatisation’ in a theory of post-communist transformation of property.

Constitutionalism and Democracy

Constitutionalism and Democracy PDF Author: Jon Elster
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521457217
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description
The eleven essays in this volume, supplemented by an editorial introduction, centre around three overlapping problems. First, why would a society want to limit its own sovereign power by imposing constitutional constraints on democratic decision-making? Second, what are the contributions of democracy and constitutions to efficient government? Third, what are the relations among democracy, constitutionalism, and private property? This comprehensive discussion of the problems inherent in constitutional democracy will be of interest to students in a variety of social sciences. It illuminates particularly the current efforts of many countries, especially in Latin America, to establish stable democratic regimes.

Transitional and Retrospective Justice in the Baltic States

Transitional and Retrospective Justice in the Baltic States PDF Author: Eva-Clarita Pettai
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107049490
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 391

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Book Description
An empirically rich and conceptually informed study of the politics of transitional justice in post-communist Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.